The Pokemon Centre was quite large. Upon entering was a lounge for trainers to wait as their Pokemon were healed by Nurse Joy. The Pokemon Centre owner and a very kind lady in general, though her abundance of look-alike cousins, sisters, mothers, nieces, aunts, second cousins, cousins thrice removed, and the such was a bit unsettling. They were in a nursing school picture at the reception counter straight ahead of the entrance.

The centre also had a second floor, with stairs just to the right of the front desk, and an elevator in the side of the building for the disabled. It held rooms for trainers to rest in while their Pokemon did, or simply to sleep after a long journey. The left side of the building led to a cafeteria. The Pokemon Centre was really a wonderful place for trainers to visit.

Now if only Cora and Maisie were more excited for their first time in that wonderful place, as Pallet Town didn't have one. But they had other things in mind.

"Nurse Joy promised our Pokemon would be just fine, but..." Cora worriedly muttered. She sat on one of the large cushioned seats in the lounge, with Maisie standing in front of her.

"So that means they will be fine!" Maisie's optimism was much appreciated.

They were both taking their losses rather heavily, regardless of how they hid it from each other - Cora with silence and Maisie with positivity. They knew, but they wouldn't talk - not without their Pokemon. "We got rooms to stay the night in the Pokemon Centre," Maisie continued. "And there's a gym in Viridian City too! Isn't that exciting?"

"Do you plan on challenging it?" It wasn't the approaching sound of footsteps that spoke, but the person making it. "I hate to deliver the news, but the Viridian City Gym doesn't exist. Or rather, it won't."

The one who spoke was a tall man in a sophisticated classic-fit suit, white in color with a baby blue tie beneath the collar. His black hair was styled in a short disconnected pompadour with a little too much gel trying to keep it perfectly in place. Upturned dark hazel eyes stared directly at them.

Cora stood up. "What do you mean by 'won't exist'? We haven't heard anything about that."

"Sit back down, and I'll tell you." The man began, taking a seat to Cora's left. Maisie sat at her right. "I am Rich Crisistawt, and who are you, Pokemon trainers?"

"My name's Maisie!" Maisie answered quickly. "And this is Cora."

"Maisie and Cora," Rich repeated. "Some fine names for young and aspiring girls. My own daughter began her journey recently as well. Maybe you'll meet her."

"Maybe," Cora agreed. "Now please, tell us about the gym? How do you know that it won't exist?"

"I own a large and wealthy company that manufactures Poke Balls in the Johto region, but it distributes to both Kanto and Johto. To know what kind of Poke Balls trainers need, I must keep up to date with the community! I went to the gym to converse with the gym leader but found the gym to be closed. The door was conveniently unlocked, so I entered anyway."

"Sounds like trespassing to me," Cora muttered.

Rich let out a deliberately loud cough to clear his throat. "Since I wasn't a challenger, the gym leader agreed to talk with me and discuss Poke Balls. But his demeanor seemed rather... Defeated, whenever speaking of his experiences as a gym leader and the many battles and challengers he faced. Unmotivated, I should say."

Maisie's eyes softened. "So you think he doesn't want to battle anymore? I feel bad for him..."

Cora, on the other hand, stood back up. "Well, if he's a gym leader, then he shouldn't be willing to close the gym for any reason. If people are challenging gyms looking for a badge, then he has to stay open. It's against the Pokemon League rules to refuse a challenge!"

"Only if you've actually challenged him. If the gym's closed, then no one gets the chance to do so." Rich argued. "Anyway, weren't you two moping because you lost a battle? I heard you talking about your Pokemon being defeated. Now you're judging a gym leader because he feels unmotivated regarding battle?"

Cora could feel embarrassment spreading through her body. "Well, I'm not a gym leader!" And to begin with, we're not unmotivated! We lost to wild Pokemon on a weak route! Eevee she could understand losing. But Poliwag didn't hatch recently or anything. How could it lose? "I'll go talk to this gym leader myself!"

Rich looked at her skeptically. "If he lets you in." But other than that, he only shrugged and stood up. "It's been a pleasure, Maisie and Cora. May you find good luck on your journeys. And if you ever run into my daughter, do take note!"

"We'll remember that," Maisie promised. If someone's last name was 'Crisistawt', I'd think she'd be very notable! She stood up with them and began to walk out with Cora. "Goodbye, Mr. Rich Crisistawt!"

As they exited, Cora could hear him whispering something about Fast Balls. But without stopping to eavesdrop, they headed for the Viridian City Gym, and Cora couldn't help but reflect on what Rich had said.

"Anyway, weren't you two moping because you lost a battle?"

It's different. Cora told herself. Rather, assured herself. It's different!

While they walked in the general direction of the Pokemon gym, Maisie suddenly ran ahead. "Look! There it is!"

A giant building, almost as large as the Pokemon Centre stood ahead. There was a sign in front of it, just to the building's left that was rectangle-shaped with a half-circle on the top painted as a Poke Ball. The sign itself read,

"Viridian City Gym;

Home of the strong,

Tough as the earth."

Two doors stood before them, large and of what looked like mahogany wood. "Sounds just right for a ground-type gym," Cora remarked, knocking directly in the middle of the right door. "Hello?"

"Cora," Maisie whispered, pointing to the middle of the left door. There was a piece of paper taped onto it that read in large red letters, 'CLOSED'.

"Oh." Well, we were warned that it was closed and we probably wouldn't be let in. She continued to knock on the door. Unlike what Rich said, it was locked. Maybe she was here as a gym challenger, but not to challenge the gym. If he was in there, it would be alright, wouldn't it? "Hello! Mr. Gym Leader, sir! You in there?"

It took about a few minutes of knocking before Maisie suggested they simply head back to the Pokemon Centre and continue waiting for their Pokemon. But a minute later, the door finally opened. "Hello?" Cora repeated for the third time.

"'Hello'?" The man who emerged echoed. He was ginger-haired with green eyes and dressed in an unusually formal manner, somewhat similar to how Rich did. In a black suit with pointed-toe shoes and a red tie. Is he going to a party? There was also a belt on his waist with two Poke Balls attached. "What do you mean by that!? Girls, can you read!?" He pointed angrily at the sign. "The one that says 'CLOSED' in giant red letters?"

Maisie was quick to apologize, but Cora, not so much. "We just talked to a Rich Crisistawt. You let him in."

"He's a businessman who just wanted to talk Poke Balls, not a challenger. The gym is closed for the week, so good day!"

"Closed forever, you mean?"

The redheaded man paused. Maisie whispered fiercely into her ear, "Cora!" But Cora just stared him in the eyes while he turned back around to face them.

"Man, that Crisistawt is a walking crisis... A very big-mouthed crisis." He looked at Cora, then at Maisie, and back to Cora again. "I'm guessing you're the challenger?"

"Yes sir, but I'm not here to challenge the gym today." Cora took on a more respectful tone, sensing that if they got him mad again they most certainly wouldn't be let in.

"Fine. I doubt you'll leave anyway."

And so, they were grudgingly let into the Viridian City Gym. The inside beyond the two doors was incredibly spacious. It was Cora's first time inside of a Pokemon gym, and even though she wasn't there as a challenger, she was exuberant. The ceiling had to be at least 8 meters high, with a dirt battlefield drawn over the floor. There wasn't anything on it, but she guessed it was probably an extra few meters deep - maybe about three or four at most.

She could clearly see the challenger's box on one end of the battlefield, the one closer to the entrance. On the opposite side was where the gym leader would stand. To the right of the battlefield from the view of the entrance was a large row of stands for people to watch.

Cora had to consciously close her slightly open jaw. "Wow..." So this is an actual gym!

"You're new trainers, right? Did you plan on challenging the strongest gym first?" The suited man said, somewhat smugly. He sounded proud of it, despite the gym's status as closed. Possibly permanently.

"The strongest?" Maisie echoed.

"That's right! The Viridian Gym is known as Kanto's strongest gym."

He led them to the left of the battlefield where another door stood, slightly open. Cora couldn't see behind it but thought she could feel the earth quaking as they neared. As though the gym floor was only shaking in certain places.

But before going in, they finally got to learn the man's name when he turned around to face them. "My name is Enki, and as you probably guessed, I'm the Viridian City gym leader."

"Enki? Kind of a weird name." Cora commented without much thought. At least not until Enki, looking very offended, had to clear his throat. And this is why I should let Maisie do the talking...

"Well, it means 'lord of the earth', so I think it's a fitting name."

"Oh! Because this is a ground-type gym, right?" Maisie exclaimed, saving them from the awkward silence that would've followed had Cora gone to visit the gym herself. "I'm Maisie, and this is Cora."

"Pleasure to meet you. Well, one of you," He added, pointedly staring at Cora. But before Cora could say anything back, he opened the door and led them in.

What was the 'earth quaking' in the gym was actually ground-type Pokemon. The room was a training area, where they practiced their moves! There were things like punching bags, weights, and two miniature battlefields like the giant one in the main room.

The shaking was the Pokemon using moves, like Earthquake or Rock Slide, or the impact from facing each other with powerful Slashes and Bonemerangs. Cora spotted a Dugtrio in one of the mini-battlefields of sand competing with a Sandslash, and a Marowak practicing Bone Club against a punching bag. On the second battlefield was what looked like a sumo match between a gigantic Onix and a Golem.

For the second time upon entering the gym, she was amazed. They were training hard even after their trainer left. And each of them seemed really strong. "Impressed?" Enki commented, pride for his Pokemon showing quite obviously.

"Yes!" Cora exclaimed. She wished she had brought Eevee to see this too. It could learn a lot from watching others battle.

Enki gave several claps to gather the five Pokemon's attention. "You've all done well today! Take a rest in your Poke Balls." Near the door was a table with three Poke Balls on top of it. As Enki walked to retrieve them, Cora noticed that two of the Pokemon hadn't stopped.

Golem and Onix were still continuing... Or rather, Golem was trying to. As Onix turned away to take a break, Golem grabbed it by the tail. With a powerful swing, it tossed the Onix back onto the battlefield with a spinning throw. Onix, in rage, coiled itself back up and loomed menacingly over Golem, as though threatening it to stop. But it didn't back down and even seemed to scoff in its Pokemon language. The scoff was followed by Onix about to use one of its moves when from beside the girls was a shout of; "Onix, return!"

A tart red beam of light engulfed the giant ground-type - and rock-type as well - and as the beam retreated to its Poke Ball, Onix was brought in too. Enki had finished returning the rest of his Pokemon but Sandslash into the three Poke Balls that were on the table. He took the two Poke Balls that were already on his belt and returned Sandslash to one of them.

Golem had been standing in the center of the battlefield it had been fighting with Onix on in silence while Enki did this. Then, the Viridian gym leader whirled around with a furious glare. "Golem! What in the world was that!? You heard me, didn't you!?" Golem gave no verbal reply. It didn't even move or shift. "I know you did!"

Golem turned away and began to walk - or rather, strut ignorantly - towards the punching bags where a Marowak had been before. Wordlessly, Enki sighed and returned Golem to its Poke Ball, muttering something that sounded like, "What am I going to do with you?"

Soon after retrieving his Pokemon, he let them into an adjacent room past the training room where they all sat down with some tea. Like they were house guests or something. "Your Pokemon are all very strong!" Maisie complimented to begin a conversation.

"Though Golem's a bit iffy," Cora added. "Strong, but iffy, if you know what I mean."

Enki opened his mouth to fire back some kind of retort but closed it after a moment's thought. Instead, he calmly replied, "It is strong. It's the strongest Pokemon on me. It's also a good Pokemon."

"If it's the strongest, is that why you took its Poke Ball with you?" Cora thought back to her previous observations. "Its and Sandslash's Poke Balls were the only ones you had on you when we met. The rest were on the table."

"I guess that's a reason, but it's not mine." He took out the Poke Ball in question and threw it straight up into the air, caught it, and repeated this action over and over while he spoke. "I've known Golem since I was a kid, but it was raised by the original gym leader. Sandslash was my first Pokemon. That's all."

"The... Original gym leader? Like your predecessor?" Maisie didn't seem interested in Cora beginning a verbal war over her need to question anything she found odd or inconsistent, so she intervened. "And, by the way, we also heard that you're going to close the gym..?"

Enki sighed. "I told Rich that I might. Running a gym is hard, especially when running the toughest gym around. Though, it's not that tough anymore..."

Cora took a moment to process the information. Rich said that Enki was unmotivated when it came to battle. Right now, she was starting to see that. But it didn't feel like he was unmotivated to be a gym leader. Rather, he sounded hesitant and unsure instead. And yet he seemed so proud of both his Pokemon and the gym at the same time, even calling it Kanto's strongest...

"You sound pretty uncertain," Cora wanted an answer, so she had to choose her words carefully, so as to not make him mad. "And yet you train so hard, and call the Viridian City Gym the strongest gym."

Enki narrowed his eyes but offered her a reply. "When the original gym leader was still in charge, yes, this was the strongest gym. But, sadly, she no longer has anything to do with this gym."

Cora narrowed her eyes, thinking. What happened to the original gym leader? "So basically, you're inferior to her, and that's why you struggle?"

"Cora!" Maisie exclaimed briefly, glancing back at the redhead in front of them. "I'm sorry. We meant no offense."

"None taken." Enki sighed. He seemed more... Deflated, than before. "It's true, after all."

Cora started talking again. "Okay. So what if this isn't the strongest gym anymore? It's still a gym, you can't close it just because you feel like you're worse than the old leader."

"Okay, when you put it that way, it sounds pretty bad. But I'm not just pitying myself because I think I'm worse. I am worse."

"Cool. But I saw your Pokemon training together! You're going to shove aside their hard work because of your low self-esteem? They seemed pretty strong to me! Maybe not as much as the previous gym leader, but you're definitely strong enough to be a gym leader."

"'Strong enough' isn't good enough!" Enki snapped and abruptly stood up. "This gym has a reputation to keep as the strongest gym in Kanto. And I'm doing my best to keep it. But if I can't, then I'd rather it close while people still know it as the strongest. So if that's all, please leave now."

Cora stood up, not really interested in staying anyway. "Strongest this and strongest that, who cares? Lose to a Caterpie and you're still a gym leader; don't give up so easily!"

"You can tell me that if you become a gym leader, but trust me. Either I get stronger or the old gym leader comes back, but otherwise... This gym is done. I refuse to tarnish the good name my predecessor built up for this gym just because I couldn't get my act together."

"Chansey, the Egg Pokemon - A normal-type. It walks cautiously to stop its egg from breaking, though it lays several others a day. Due to the eggs being overharvested, it's quite rare and able to flee swiftly. These eggs are highly nutritious and delicious, quickly and eagerly consumed by even those who have no appetite. Chansey shares its eggs with the injured, but will not with those with impure hearts. It is said to be lucky and deliver happiness to whoever catches it. They have the nickname 'doctors' doubles'."

Maisie had pointed her Pokedex at a rounded crepe pink Pokemon with a short tail and short hands and salmon pink feet and a similarly-colored pouch holding a shiny white egg. It had some kind of hair, three growths on each side of its head that were the same color as its body but salmon pink accented. Its small eyes were blue-tinted.

Chansey carried a tan-colored tray with six notches over to where Maisie and Cora were waiting back in the Pokemon Centre's lobby. On it were two Poke Balls on opposite sides of the tray. Maisie took the one on the left side, and Cora took the one on the right.

Cora gave it a small smile. "Thanks,"

"And thank Nurse Joy for us, too!" Maisie added.

By the time they'd returned from the gym, it had gotten late, and in a flash, they were on the second floor of the Pokemon Centre and in their room. Eevee and Poliwag were as lively as they had been before their first battles with their new trainers. Poliwag smiled happily while Maisie coddled it, and Eevee bounced excitedly around Cora.

It was a good moment to have with their Pokemon. Until the brain in Cora's head started turning with the day's events. Leaving Pallet Town and making it to Viridian City on the same day was a good accomplishment... If they hadn't been rushing because a Rattata and Nidoran beat them in battle.

"Lose to a Caterpie and you're still a gym leader; don't give up so easily!"

I'm a hypocrite. She thought, giving a sour chuckle. Eevee tilted its head in confusion, lowering its ears. "Never mind," Cora whispered. "Let's get some sleep."

That night, her dreams were filled with images of Eevee growing stronger and evolving. But just when the white glow was about to shape the normal-type Pokemon into a Pokemon of another type...

"Oh, come on!" Cora exclaimed. "Doesn't matter who it is or what the dream's about, it's every time! Every time the best part comes, you just gotta' wake up!"

"I agree with you... But shouting first thing in the morning isn't like you." Maisie yawned, groggily rising from her bed. They simultaneously glanced at the clock on the wall. Its hands were pointing in the exact opposite directions. "6 A.M. It's a little early, but oh well!" She added, hopping out of bed.

Cora looked around, still a little disoriented. While Maisie was pulling out her clothes and a pair of light pistachio green ribbons, she gave herself some time to think about the gym. Would Enki really close it down? He said he didn't want to tarnish the gym's good name by losing more battles than necessary, but wouldn't shutting the gym down tarnish its name even more? He even got a Golem from the previous leader to help him out, and he seemed to respect her a lot...

"Oh! Golem!" Cora hopped out of bed and snatched her Pokedex out of her backpack.

She began to rapidly press the buttons on it. "What are you doing?" Maisie asked. She was in the long process of tying up her hair.

"I know each Pokemon has its own personality, but I thought it would've been a bit more obedient... Especially if its former trainer was close to its current trainer." It was just something Cora was also curious about. When she finally was able to bring up Golem's entry, the Pokedex said this;

"Golem, the Megaton Pokemon - A rock and ground-type. Its rock-like body is so tough, it can withstand dynamite. It sheds its skin once a year which hardens, crumbling to soil, enrichening it for farmers. Its body is tender but hardens with air. Golem live in volcanic craters and mountaintops, rolling off, often due to earthquakes. It leaves trails to be avoided, some manually dug to divert them from people. It blows up, using the force to travel. When Golem grow old, they stop shedding. Those longest-lived have mossy shells."

"Nope, nothing," Cora muttered. "I suppose that Golem is just extra loyal." Or extra judgy. But she kept that bit to herself, considering that she was much the same.

"Does it matter?" Maisie stood up, put on her bag, and turned to face Cora. "The gym here in Viridian's not going anywhere soon - I hope - but it's not going to open soon either. So where to next?"

"I thought I'd figure it out after I beat the Viridian City Gym, but that didn't work out." She admitted, finally getting her clothes out of her bag.

Maisie looked at her with an unusually wide grin. "I talked to Mr. Rich again after we came back - you might not've noticed since you were thinking again, no offense-" None taken. "-and he said that Pewter City had a Pokemon gym. Rock-type. And do you know what's right past Pewter City?"

Cora shook her head, though she had a good guess as to what. "Cerulean City!" I figured. In Pallet Town, Maisie always spoke of the water-type gym.

"Of course. You and your love for water-types - but there's a gym in both cities anyway..." Maisie became increasingly happy when Cora agreed. "Let me guess. Did he also offer to sell you a good bargain on Dive Balls if you ever went to Johto?" Cora was joking.

"Yes! How did you know?"

And so, after Cora finished changing, they set off for Viridian Forest. With somewhat renewed determination, perhaps they'd have better luck today than yesterday!